Discussions of race are inevitably fraught with tension, both in opinion and positioning. Too frequently, debates are framed as clear points of opposition-us versus them. And when considering white racial identity, a split between progressive movements and a neoconservative backlash is all too frequently assumed. Taken at face value, it would seem that whites are splintering into antagonistic groups, with differing worldviews, values, and ideological stances. White Bound investigates these dividing lines, questioning the very notion of a fracturing whiteness, and in so doing offers a unique view of white racial identity. Matthew Hughey spent over a year attending the meetings, reading the literature, and interviewing members of two white organizations-a white nationalist group and a white antiracist group. Though he found immediate political differences, he observed surprising similarities. Both groups make meaning of whiteness through a reliance on similar racist and reactionary stories and worldviews. On the whole, this book puts abstract beliefs and theoretical projection about the supposed fracturing of whiteness into relief against the realities of two groups never before directly compared with this much breadth and depth. By examining the similarities and differences between seemingly antithetical white groups, we see not just the many ways of being white, but how these actors make meaning of whiteness in ways that collectively reproduce both white identity and, ultimately, white supremacy.
"This book brings a fresh and innovative perspective to the sociological analysis of whiteness . . . The key strength of this book is the simplicity and brilliance of the project design. The juxtaposition of these two apparently politically opposed organizations provides rich ethnographic material for Hughey to theorize and deconstruct the micro-politics that facilitates the meanings of whiteness
Ethnic and Racial Studies
"White Bound is a book that will definitely create a stir in both the academic and the nonacademic communities . . . There is no doubt that White Bound will be viewed as a major contribution in sociology."
Humanity & Society
"This book is essential reading! Matthew Hughey expertly uses interview material to demonstrate how current assumptions about whiteness influence two groups as opposite as white nationalists and white antiracists. White Bound makes an important contribution to our understanding of the continuing significance of race in the U.S."
